Home country: USA
Internship company and location: Industrial Growth Platform Inc (IGPI), Singapore (Remote from Tokyo)
Company's official home page: https://www.igpi.co.jp/en/
Most applicable ICS course (s) in your internship role: Strategy
Favorite lunch place: Sumiyaki Unafuji (Near Tokyo station)
Post-work decompression ritual: Gym session
Unexpected skill you used during the internship: Storytelling
Song/playlist that got you through busy days: Nujabes
Internship vibe in one emoji: 🤯
I interned at IGPI Singapore as an assistant. My role centered around preliminary market research & analysis and meeting minute summarization to support the strategy advisory efforts of the Singapore team.
I was interested in the internship in great part from wanting to gain firsthand experience of strategy consulting in a low-risk environment to determine if it would be a suitable post-MBA career. As a company, IGPI was particularly intriguing to me because of its Asia-Pacific focus and configuration as a dual advisory and investment firm, offering a unique value proposition in the regional market.
I was referred to the internship by the CSO office and secured it following a successful interview, which included a case portion.
I mainly relied on information shared by CSO as well as networking with the ICS community.
English.
My responsibilities were mainly divided between conducting preliminary desk research and creating minutes for client and expert calls, both focusing on market entry/expansion of Japanese multinational companies into ASEAN.
The desk research component constituted the majority of my work and entailed referencing a combination of public and paid online resources to assess market size & growth, market composition, competitive landscape, regulatory environment, and value chain structure concerning the client’s type of product or service in the target geographic area. From my research findings, I distilled critical insights used in creating the proposal slide decks, one of the initial deliverables of a consulting project.
I found structured problem solving to be particularly useful in this internship. The logic tree, which was highlighted in the capstone project briefing, helped me break down relatively vague concepts (demand drivers) into specific inputs (downstream market size & growth, downstream market composition, customer preferences & pain points) that I could readily examine to directly address the main business concern (revenue growth).
Additionally, knowledge about the different modes of market entry, such as export, greenfield investment, and international joint venture, taught in Global Business helped me inform the potential strategies presented in the proposal, comparing the key considerations of each.
Although I determined that consulting would not be the best fit for me, the experience provided me with invaluable knowledge and skills that I believe will support me immensely in my targeted field, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A). At the forefront are creative problem solving, logical thinking, information synthesis, and compelling storytelling, all of which are crucial elements for delivering insights that inform strategic decisions, such as new product development, market expansion/entry/exit, and M&A opportunities.
As someone new to strategy consulting, I was challenged to learn new industries quickly, having to thoroughly understand their characteristics and become fluent in specific terminology. I was assigned to a new project approximately each week or every other week, often times concerning an industry I had never researched before. As a result, my work spanned across various markets, including chemical manufacturing, financial services, lumber & specialized wood, food processing, electrification solutions, EV battery solutions, and decarbonization technologies.
I overcame these challenges by asking thoughtful questions during project briefings and budgeting time to familiarize myself with the client’s key offerings and industry characteristics in the beginning, before diving into detailed research and analysis. Though simple, this exercise provided me with the clarity needed to satisfy the project requirements by ensuring my research was comprehensive, accurate, and efficient.
Tatsushi Sasakura, Director, Industrial Growth Platform Pte. Ltd.
We have been very impressed with Mikhail's performance during his time with us. He has demonstrated strong analytical capabilities, clear communication skills, and a professional attitude that allowed him to integrate quickly with our team and deliver meaningful contributions.
More broadly, based on this experience, we see great potential in interns from ICS MBA program. The combination of academic training and practical business understanding enables them to contribute effectively to real-world consulting engagements from day one. We believe such interns can add significant value by bringing fresh perspectives, international outlooks, and a strong work ethic.
We look forward to continuing the collaboration and exploring further opportunities to host interns from ICS program.